Textile materials that provide shelter or serve as barriers between environments are commonly incorporated into a variety of products. Textile materials may serve as wrappings or covers. Textile materials may also serve as screens separating one area from another, as when employed in tents or windbreaks. Textile materials may additionally serve ornamental or informative purposes, as when employed in labels, banners, or flags. For example, apparel based upon or otherwise incorporating textile materials may cover the body of a wearer, protecting it from environmental factors such as temperature and precipitation. Apparel may also serve to protect a wearer from wind. In addition, apparel may serve to identify a wearer. Such apparel may be formed for a variety of uses. For example, apparel may be formed for use in athletic training and athletic competition in a variety of different sports, such as baseball, basketball, American football, soccer, hockey, cricket, tennis, golf, track and field events, running, swimming, bicycling, skiing, snowboarding, surfing, windsurfing, and many others. Additionally, printed elements may be incorporated into other products, such as sports balls and other equipment used in athletics.
Materials or elements that impart padding, cushioning, or otherwise attenuate impact forces are also commonly incorporated into a variety of products. Athletic apparel, for example, often incorporates cushioning elements that protect the wearer from contact with other athletes, equipment, or the ground. More specifically, pads used in American football and hockey incorporate cushioning elements that provide impact protection to various parts of a wearer. Helmets used in American football, hockey, bicycling, skiing, snowboarding, and skateboarding incorporate cushioning elements that provide head protection during falls or crashes. Similarly, gloves used in soccer (e.g., by goalies) and hockey incorporate cushioning elements that provide protection to the hands of a wearer.
Indicia such as numbers, letters, words, symbols, marks, graphics, pictures, and illustrations may be imparted to surfaces of a variety of products. Indicia may serve to communicate information, to facilitate identification, or to provide decorative ornamentation, for example. Indicia may be imparted to a surface through any of a variety of techniques, including printing techniques. In some printing processes, which may be referred to as dye-sublimation printing, dyes used in the printing process may begin in a solid state, then sublimate from the solid state to a gas state upon application of heat. Subsequently, the dyes in the gas state, in the course of cooling back to the solid state, may adhere to a surface, may be absorbed by a material of the surface, or may be otherwise transferred to the surface.
Some printed elements to which indicia have been transferred may be textile elements, which may be incorporated into articles of apparel. Other printed elements may be cushioning elements, which may also be incorporated into articles of apparel. Accordingly, apparel (such as athletic apparel) may incorporate printed textile elements, printed cushioning elements, or both. In addition to apparel, printed textile elements and printed cushioning elements may also be incorporated into various other articles or as part of various other articles. For example, wrappings, covers, screens, labels, tents, banners, and flags may all incorporate printed textile elements. In addition, mats (e.g., for yoga or camping), chair cushions, and backpacks may all incorporate printed cushioning elements.